- Arbab Ahmad
Having troubles choosing a paint color for your walls?
How To Choose A Paint Color For Your Home
Choosing the right color for your home is a lengthy and tricky process. But by reading some tips from our professionals, you could be a few steps closer to picking your favorite color for your room you always dreamed of.
The easiest way to choose the perfect paint color for your home is to start with your favorite color, and then you will not end up bound with a traditional color scheme for a particular decorating design. You can use your favorite hue as a base color to create a color scheme around it.
Following are the few steps you need to take before purchasing your paint color:
1. Don't Purchase Your Paint First
Purchasing your paint color should be the last step of your design process. Find your paint color inspiration first, from magazines, Pinterest, or catalogs. Then choose your furniture, textile, and main accents. And consider how they all look together.
2. Find Your Inspiration
Pinterest and Instagram have always been the staple of decorating inspiration. Social media sites offer color inspiration that is refreshed in real-life. Paint company and retailer sites can also show you the ways to choose color combinations for your room. This option also offers you inspiration boards for your favorite ideas and keeps all your pictures in one spot.
3. Create A Color Scheme With Furniture
Select three colors from your existing furniture or fabric. And try to find three sample strips with those colors from the paint store. You will instantly have 14-18 colors to choose from sample strips (each sample strip contains six colors). Take one of the three colors as your wall color and save the remaining two colors for furniture, furnishing, or textile.
4. Understand Undertones
Consider the darkest color on the strip to determine the right color. Test that darkest color on a small area of your walls; this will save you from choosing the too yellow shade, too pink, or too blue, etc. Understand the differences between a cool undertone and a warm undertone. And examine the effect of the undertone on the entire look of your place before you make a purchase.
5. Decide The Mood Of The Room
Every space has a mood or a frame of mind you want to create for it, particularly. For example, if you want a peaceful environment in your bedroom, it makes sense to go for soothing colors such as cool greys, lavender, and blues. Reds and browns won't be your best bet. Forgetting the mood you significantly want to create in your room and going with a color just because it's your current favorite shade can spell disaster.
6. Understand Light Effect On The Paint Color
It would be best if you also considered the light effect on your walls before purchasing paint color. Most probably, when in a home improvement store, you are looking at a paint chip under intense fluorescent light. It could look totally different from the light in your home.
Light is the primary factor affecting how colors translate on your walls. If each wall receives a different amount of light from the window, intersecting walls might look different at the same time of the day.
7. Don't Hesitate To Test Your Paint Colors
This is a simple rule that should never be ignored. Confidently test your colors on a small area of walls or poster board, especially if you consider intense colors to add drama on the ceilings. Or you are thinking of using vivid colors, deep neutral colors like olive green, or chocolate brown as the primary accent color.
Almost all brands have testers available for a few dollars. It is well worth spending the money to buy a few to test before ordering gallons of the color.
8. Choose The Right Sheen/Finish
If you are trying to renovate your home and want to cover flaws, go with an as little sheen as possible.
Readout our some general guidelines for the different sheen choices:
Hi-Gloss Sheen: this sheen is mostly used for high use surfaces such as furniture or railing. It offers a shiny and almost glass-like finish.
Semi-Gloss Sheen: this is what you should consider using for high moisture areas, cabinets, and trim. This sheen is also shiny but doesn't give a glass-like finish.
Satin Sheen: this sheen is super wipeable, which makes it perfect for kitchens and washrooms. It is a bit glossier and works best for high moisture and high traffic areas.
Eggshell Sheen: it is the right choice for moderate traffic areas like a living room. It has a tiny bit of shine. You can wipe off the surface's most of the scuffs with a damp cloth.
Flat sheen: it is perfect for low traffic areas, but maybe a better choice where you have pets or kids. It has almost no shine but easy to clean as compared to flat paint.
Matte (Flat) Sheen: best for low traffic areas such as bedrooms or living rooms, as well as ceilings. It is not shiny at all.
Final Verdict
Picking paint colors for your home's interior or exterior is no walk in the park. It's, in fact, a confusing world of various tints, shades, hues. However, the selection of paint colors still boils down to your personal preferences. Please pay attention to our expert bits of advice on choosing the right color for your home, especially when you will give a new look to your home.
Check us out at www.munciecustomonpaintingpros.com